Social development
Maternity leave: How Vietnam compares to neighbors
The ILO believes Vietnam has fairly progressive policies to protect working mothers. Vietnamese female workers are offered up to 26 weeks maternity leave, above the average level of 12-13 weeks seen in Southeast Asia, according to the International Labor Organization. Vietnam has a system of ...
Palm oil projects destroy local livelihoods: report
More than 1.8 million acres of palm oil plantations in Myanmar’s southern Tenasserim Division do more harm than good for local Karen villagers, causing land conflict, damaging livelihoods, destroying biodiversity, and polluting the environment, according to a new report. Companies and businesspeople have taken over ...
Youth, women key to economic growth
To join the “Asian Tiger” economies of the neighbouring countries, Myanmar must invest more in its youth, the UN Population Fund has said following a new examination of demographic trends from the 2014 census. “A unique window of opportunity opens when there are more people ...
PM wants ethics test for students
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed the Education Ministry to add a moral and ethical sense test at all education levels and require students to write one page of Thai history. These steps would ensure they are aware of their social duties and responsibilities, and ...
Statistics indicate big problems in university education
MOLISA estimates that about 200,000 university graduates are jobless, and that the figure will not increase sharply in upcoming years but will stay the same. The Q2 Labor Bulletin released by MOLISA showed that 1.088 million people at working age had stayed unemployed by that time, an ...
Cambodia's water people pushed out of Phnom Penh sewer for billion-dollar ING City
For decades, the vast lakes and wetlands fringing Cambodia’s capital have been home to thousands of people making a living from the water — fishing and harvesting vegetables for market. Now they face eviction, as politically well-connected land speculators push them out. “If they fill ...
Special rapporteur barred from Laiza, Hpakant
Just a few days into her fifth visit and the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar has already encountered a few bumps in the road, with the government blocking her from going to Laiza and Hpakant, in Kachin State. Yanghee Lee and her ...
Problems in education sector mount
The educational sector has been blamed for the unemployment of 200,000 university graduates, among other issues. A report released by MOET and UNICEF shows that 80 percent of students suffered from gender-based violence at least once, while 71 percent suffered from school violence in the last ...
Four new Zika virus cases in Đồng Nai Province
Four new Zika virus infection cases have been recorded in southern Đồng Nai Province since the end of December, according to the province’s Steering Board for Epidemic Prevention. The cases occurred in Nhơn Trạch District’s Vĩnh Thanh Commune, Bạch Thái Bình, director of the province’s ...
Savings spare women from labor in Myanmar
Ma Nwe places a rock the size of a baseball at her feet, then tightens the string holding her bamboo hat in place. “I can’t risk it falling off,” she explained, squinting in the sun. “It’s only going to get hotter as the day goes ...
